The Earth's magentic field serves a shield against solar radiation. However in particularly intense solar storms it can be penetrated, which could destroy satellites in space and electronics on the "sunny side" of Earth at the time of the storm. (Source: NASA)

The Solar Dynamics Observatory launches in Florida. (Source: NASA)

The SDO will allow researchers to detect a "space Katrina" event and prepare the Earth for its impact. (Source: NASA)

New satellite could detect brewing trouble, allow disaster organizations to make plans

The
year was 1859 and in the U.S. the roots of Civil War were brewing.
However, in outer space a far worse threat was stewing.
Explosions on the surface of the sun ensued with far greater than
usual fury and the Earth was swept with solar radiation from solar
flares. Around the country telegraph lines exploded,
causing fires, and crippled our nation's communication.

Fast
forward to the present. The U.S. has not experienced such a
storm in decades. In orbit are a host of vital, yet vulnerable,
electronics (satellites) that provide everything from television to
other critical communications. Around the globe, high energy
transformers power the industrialized world's hunger for power.
But a solar "storm of the century" -- like the one of 1859
-- could destroy all of that in a mere day, frying first satellites
and then transformers via a bombardment of high energy electrons,
ultimately plunging much of the world in darkness and leaving many
without running water.

Last month NASA launched the
Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, from the Kennedy Space Center in
Florida. The new satellite is packed with electronics that can
measure details of the sun's atmosphere, its surface, and even its
interior. It will surely yield stunning new insight into how
our solar system's power plant works. However, pure research
aside, its most crucial mission may be in detect super solar storms
-- as NASA puts it, a "space Katrina".

Solar activity,
a phenomena that typically follows a 11-year cycle, reached a record
low in 2008 and 2009 with almost no sunspots being
detected. Some researchers say that means that it may rebound
to a peak of record activity when activity reaches a maximum again
sometime between 2012 and 2015.

Such an event could cause hundreds of billions, if
not trillions of dollars in damage. In 1989 a solar storm
knocked out power to 6 million in Quebec, and in 2006 a storm knocked
out GPS coverage for half of the globe. However, those storms
might look garden-variety compared to what NASA says could come.

A
solar storm could kill or injure astronauts in space at the time and
travelers flying near the Earth's poles.

The SDO's greatest
promise is that it's giving officials a means of detecting a
dangerous solar event as it brews up, not as its happening. By
the time it happens, its largely too late to prepare for it, but
detecting it early could give time for preparations.

The
satellite sits in geosynchronous orbit steadily viewing the sun,
taking an image every 1.25 seconds, and sending a total of 1.5 TB of
data back to Earth daily.

The satellite contains a wealth of
high tech equipment designed by researchers at the University of
Colorado in Boulder and Lockheed Martin in Palo Alto, California.
Among its instruments are the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager or
HMI, which detect magnetic waves traveling through the sun that could
trigger solar eruptions; the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly or AIA,
which studies the sun's corona and watches for changes; and the
Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment or EVE, which scans for
incoming ultraviolet rays, which could impact satellites and hamper
GPS communications.

The satellite wasn't cheap -- it went $56M
USD over budget, with a final estimated cost of $856M USD for
construction, launch, five years of operation, and six years of data
analysis. With a scrubbed launch on February 10 (the launch
occurred the next day), the cost might be even higher.

Still,
that investment will likely be worth it as it grants the Earth an eye
in space that will likely be able to watch for trouble for at least
ten years. Describes Phil Chamberlin, the deputy project
scientist for SDO, "You look at the sun and [in the past would]
say, 'Whoops, we just saw a big flare, it's going to affect
us.'"

Now we're prepared, though. If a "space
Katrina" fires up, at least we'll be ready to brace for it this
time.

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Seriously, these things travel along the magnetic lines, not in direct fashion. The problem with sattelites is to be HIGH in the orbit and having less magnetic field protection than surface. Same goes for poles, where the magnetic lines converge, and enter earth. Whats why aurora borealis is being seen there, and not in Washington for instance.